Given that the change is much larger at the hearing level than at initial and recon, it seems likely this is related to SSA clearing out cases where people whose hearing requests had been pending for many years and had not consented to remote hearings (some because they wanted in-person hearings and others because they couldn't be contacted).
My guess is that most of those claimants were unrepresented and that most of those cases resulted in dismissals for failure to appear.
It would be an interesting project for SSA's researchers to figure out what happened to those whose cases were dismissed...were earnings posted on their SSNs, indicating return to work? Did they die? Did they apply for retirement benefits (or for SSI, turn 65 and no longer need disability determinations)? Did they reapply for disability benefits?
I think your explanation for the drop is correct. This is also consistent with the spike in representation from 2020-2022 when repped cases were largely the only cases that could be scheduled while offices were closed.
2 comments:
Given that the change is much larger at the hearing level than at initial and recon, it seems likely this is related to SSA clearing out cases where people whose hearing requests had been pending for many years and had not consented to remote hearings (some because they wanted in-person hearings and others because they couldn't be contacted).
My guess is that most of those claimants were unrepresented and that most of those cases resulted in dismissals for failure to appear.
It would be an interesting project for SSA's researchers to figure out what happened to those whose cases were dismissed...were earnings posted on their SSNs, indicating return to work? Did they die? Did they apply for retirement benefits (or for SSI, turn 65 and no longer need disability determinations)? Did they reapply for disability benefits?
I think your explanation for the drop is correct. This is also consistent with the spike in representation from 2020-2022 when repped cases were largely the only cases that could be scheduled while offices were closed.
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